About two years ago, I wrote « Welcome to my dot-com, which is at last up and running in a start-up version.
Why a site, and what is it for ? It used to be big cars and well trimmed lawns, nowadays it's web sites. If your neighbour has one… »

Two years down the road into the web site (it was launched on December 8, 2002, unless my memory has already betrayed me) I haven't found the answer yet, but I must say it's been quite an interesting walk so far.

Naturally, it is not quite the site I so optimistically promised 2 years ago, largely through my inability to keep up, but what you see on the site is also largely due to my webmaster Dominique's ability TO keep up, to continue improving existing features and update the existing structure.

It has turned into a fairly solid database, and shores up my flagging memory. Now I can go to my own site when I need to check an obscure detail. Rather than dig through boxes of books, I can search on the site. Not only does it involve much less heavy lifting and no dust, I can actually find what I am looking for.

It has provided me with an alternative to filling up little diaries with cramped handwriting before being stowed in the attic in a very large cardboard box already filled with little diaries already filled with cramped handwriting. The newsletter is simultaneously an exercise in discipline and a reminder to keep my mind switched to the ON position as much as possible.

The forum has proved unexpectedly stimulating, and the fan art section (when people do bother to read the rules) has ended up as a diverse catalogue of talent. (The whole idea behind it, by the way, is that if you participate regularly for a year or two, you will end up with a portfolio of work that you can present to publishers, all that without even realizing you've been putting a portfolio together. My secret ambition is to one day be able to go to signature sessions of illustrators who have one day passed through this site, which will enable me to jump the line-up. )

My favourite category by far in the site is the one labelled « Fear ! Fire ! Foes ! », a most diverse collection of rip-offs. While my reaction to this kind of thing has become somewhat calmer, I owe special thanks to ALL the people on the site who send these things in.

The FIT TO PRINT category has all the newspaper and magazine articles that I accumulate, all in the form of .pdf files which can be downloaded fairly painlessly. The FAQ section in the forum is slowly growing, prompted by questions I am so frequently asked that I occasionally want to scream, and has also focused my attention on trying to articulate my thoughts. I do my best to make it the kind of thing I wish I could have had access to myself years ago.

And, last but not least, Dom and I do hope to keep improving the site in the future. So don't go away.

John HOWE, December 2004